(Review) Broken Bells – The High Road

Over the past few weeks, the new band Broken Bells, consisting of James Mercer of The Shins and the versatile producer Danger Mouse, has been building up their own hype with mysterious emails and websites, and a few days ago they finally released their fist single. Though many people do not know, this is not the first time Mercer and Danger Mouse have collaborated, their first was on a track called “Star Eyes (I Can Catch It)” which was featured on Danger Mouse’s extremely rare record “Dark Night of the Soul” which was lost in the gears of corporation and never released. I, after searching far and wide, found a way to get my hands on the album, and the track featuring James Mercer happened to be one of my favorites on the album, so I was very excited for Broken Bells’ first single.

The song begins with a solo of sorts by Danger Mouse on the synthesizer, which one would never find on any work of The Shins, but soon progresses into a more acoustic song very similar to the work of The Shins. The two styles of Danger Mouse and Mercer mix and entwine to form a great song. The chorus is great, one that will be stuck in your head for a while, and the song is filled with the great vocals that Mercer has been providing The Shins with for years. Overall, this is a great track, and I am highly anticipating the self titled album which will be released on March 9th 2010.